Some strange comments. A wider tablet obviously allows for bigger hands on the keyboard so pros and cons there.
Size wise there is little difference apart from one being squarer.
Obviously for some the fact that the iPad is exactly 50% heaver than the similar sized,same ratio Samsung offering will be a big negative.

Obviously needs dictate partly what one buys.

The idea is to test the machines, not the knowledge of the staff. If the staff cant perform basic tasks then what chance has the OP. Tablets are basic devices and you should be able to pick up and play. As for them being pushy, we are in a recession, every sale counts :

50% heavier?

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 - 581g
Apple iPad 3 - 652g

Not really much in it - http://www.knowyourmobile.com/compar...tab_2_101.html

A 16:9 show or movie on an iPad is still 16:9. Choosing to fill the screen is not what I am talking about.


You don't type on laptop monitors and desktop monitors.

The narrower aspect ratio of 16:9 means you'll see less of what you are typing above the onscreen keyboard.

It isn't subjective to say that you see more above what you are typing on a 4:3 screen.

I already said that.

A wider tablet technically can allow for bigger hands but as it is the keys on the iPad's onscreen keyboard are already the size of their standard keyboards.

You can only get wider keys with Android because you still have to contend with less of a viewable area above the keyboard so going bigger is not as doable as it appears.

Where did you get that outlandish 50% claim from?

Clearly your quote is the definition of subjective


Ever heard of portrait and landscape Scraping the bottom of 4:3 barrel

I have an ipad which is great but the lack of up down left right arrows drives me around the bend

If you can get an android tablet which has them then go for that.

I'm curious, Why do you need arrow keys?

You do know about the press and hold to move the cursor around, right?

Typing on a 16:9 screen is fine if you have a suitable on-screen keyboard. I've got one of the split designs on my Vega, and for the majority of typing you can happily type with thumbs if you so desire.

I'd say that regardless of the tablet you buy (iPad, Transformer, etc.), you're going to get a good bit of kit. Its only at the lower end of Android tablets that it gets a bit hit and miss.

A split screen keyboard is still using space up and down and with a 16:9 screen you will have less viewable area above the keyboard shown, split or not.

Switching to portrait would make your keyboard tiny and for most people much less usable, not to mention text that much harder to read. Few tablets can render text so small successfully, with the newest iPad doing it the best. Most Android tablets look poor rendering text in portrait mode due to the lower resolution screens. In either case the keyboards, as I said, would be so small that most people would struggle using them.

4:3 is objectively better for typing as you see more of what is above the keyboard and what you are typing into to.

Without a doubt I would check out some tablets from Acer or Samsung. They seem to be the most reliable right now on the market from the Android Tablets. The iPad is ok, but way too bulky I think. Whatever you do just do not buy anything from Lenovo, as a lot of people are experiencing bs with the product and their customer service *cough*aka,me*cough*

I would definately avoid the iPad, unless you are already locked into Apple products.

It's a one way street, you never own any of the content you buy with Apple, you have to give it all back if you want to leave.

You can get very good Android tablets these days, Asus Transformer for example, easilly outclasses the iPad on every front.

Google are about to release 7in Android tablets around the £169 mark next month, quadcore and nice specs. They may be doing a 10in one too.

Almost all tablets these days are running Android 4.0. Some took a while longer than others to get they upgrade, but all the major brands are all on 4 now (Asus, Galaxy Tab, Sony, and Xoom).

The beauty of Android is you aren't locked to a single hardware supplier, you take your apps and content with you. Anything you buy is locked to your account and accessable from any Android device you signed in on, be it phone or tablet.

Unlike Apple, which needs separate apps for Phone and tablet and suffers fragmentation, the same Android aps works with both phone and tablets.

This is not entirely true. I had a Lenovo Ideapad A1, and sent it in for repairs. Not only could they not fix it, they sent me a new one with none of my apps that I bought included! I asked them what I should do about this....their answer: "Yea sorry we are not responsible for any loss of downloaded apps or information" WTF!!??

I was also not able to retrieve the apps in the Google Play Store, with all of my information (aka Netflix, Amazon Kindle Reader App, Evernote etc)

While tablets are a huge advantage for some people, I am waiting on one that will completely change the game of smart devices.

You will get the apps back through Google PLay not a problem - but you will lose the data contained within the app...which is normally the important part.

The is just full of Nonsence....

What you mean you never own the content? Please explain.

Also iPhone apps work on the iPad just as Android do but there are also apps optimised for a larger screen which are often free if you owns the iPhone version,

*All* music purchased from iTunes is free of DRM, and can be played on *any* device that can play AAC audio files, whether it's made by Apple, Samsung, HTC, Dell, Sony, Microsoft, or anyone else. It's been that way for a few years now.

Purchased videos (films, TV) are protected by DRM. This, however, is due to the studios, and would be exactly the same with purchased videos on any other platform. Ditto for purchased books.

Apps... well, obviously if you leave Apple, you won't be able to run iOS apps you've previously purchased, as you won't have an iOS device anymore!... However the same applies to Android, if you leave that, what would you do with any purchased Android apps? You are "locked in" with Android just as you are with iOS.


Google's own official figures state that only 7.1% of Android devices are currently running Ice Cream Sandwich. This does include phones as well as tablets (& of course far far more Android phones have been sold than Android tablets), but is still rather poor going when you consider the version share of each version of iOS (much higher for the newer ones!).

Google and its manufacturing and carrier partners only promise 18 months of updates, subject to hardware compatibility... Hardly any better than what you get with Apple (worse, even).


You take it with you from one Android device to another... same as with iOS, from one iOS device to another (only difference is that they're all made by Apple).

Anything you download from iTunes is locked to your account and accessible from any iOS device you have, be it phone or tablet.


More and more iOS apps are now "Universal" - instead of having a separate iPad app and a separate iPhone app, there is *one* app that works on both, with different UI and resolutions as appropriate, optimised for either device.

There are more iPad-optimised apps (whether iPad-specific or "Universal") on iOS than there are tablet-optimised apps on Android.

Sure, non-tablet Android apps will still work on Android tablets, however non-tablet iPad apps will also still work on the iPad too. And on both platforms, running non-tablet apps on a tablet isn't too pretty.


Some fragmentation, but nothing compared to Android (see my earlier bit about Android's version share).

More iOS devices run the latest version of iOS than Android devices run the latest version of Android.

https://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/...-15-days/19290

http://www.bgr.com/2012/04/05/is-the...ainst-android/

One manufacturer, with a smaller range of devices, means far less fragmentation than with Android.

There are not multiple devices to support.

There are not multiple manufacturers or carriers making their own tweaks to the OS, delaying implementation of newer versions.

*Everyone* (so long as their device is not too old) is able to update to the latest version of iOS at the same time, directly from Apple, rather than having to wait for Samsung, HTC, etc. to release an update, or wait for their carrier to release an update if they brand it also.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walled_garden_(technology)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in

You really would have to be naive to buy Crapple. Most Apple users I know would love to ditch them, but the amount of money they had spent on content and apps, all locked away in iTunes, they have no real option, stay with apple or give it all up and walk away. The more you have spent, the harder it is to leave.

Disagree again. iPhone apps do not work the same way they do with Android! And who wants a clunky huge screen when I can have a 7" inch display with android 4.0.

Here are more reasons not to necessarily go with an iPad:

Android OS vs Apple iOS.

Platform lockin is unavoidable. (for example Windows users are locked into Windows), hardware lock-in is the problem.

Android users can pick and choose who to buy from, whatever Android manufacturer they want (which is basically everyone but Apple, Nokia and RIM, soon to be only Apple). iOS users are locked to Apple and only Apple.

You buy Android, you can move your content with you, Music, Apps, Movies, Books. They all use OPEN formats like AAC, Java, EPUB and such. No proprietary Quicktime crapple there.

Open standards are the bedrock of Android. Devices have USB ports, SDCard, MicroUSB, Mini HDMI rarely a proprietary connector in sight..

And what happens with all your purchased content if you decide to leave Android and move to iOS or WP7?

Also, other than apps, what content do you mean?


How do they "not work the same way they do with Android"? What do you actually mean?

As for "who wants a huge clunky screen"... well, I guess the 70 million + iPad owners do.

Oh, as do the owners of the next most popular tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (NB, although it has second place, it only sells around 1/10 as many units as the iPad).


So because some blogger failed to keep their iPad up to date it's a reason not to have an iPad?

Are there not Android apps that require a specific version of Android that you have to first upgrade to if not already on it?

Hardware lockin and platform are not the same, also nobody in their sane mind would use either WP7 or iOS after using Android...

WP7 is a total disaster zone, and unlikely to be around in 6 months time. iOS is far to restrictive, you simple can't work with iOS after using Android.

It's also clear you are confusing sales figures are some kind of indicator of product quality or suitability. You might be suprised to learn the best selling car of all time is the Toyota Corolla.